Annoying Woman meets Flannel Man
by ennaxxor
Summary: My take on Lorelai and Luke's first meeting. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls (wow, big shocker there, huh?), or anything related to it. Just writing a fanfic.

**A/N:** I was in this dialogue writing class, and we had to write a scene where people meet for the first time, so for fun I chose to write about Luke and Lorelai. It's been done many times before, but here's my version. Hope you enjoy, and please leave a review with your thoughts, thanks.

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Twenty-six year old Lorelai Gilmore rushed into the diner. She'd never been inside before, usually getting her coffee fix from the Independence Inn, where she worked, to save money. However, that day she had had several errands to attend to in town after dropping Rory off at school, and now had a coffee craving too big to ignore. 

A bell above the door rang as she entered, and she looked around at her new surroundings. The owner could definitely use some decorating tips, the walls badly needed a new paint job (or in some spots to be painted at all), and Lorelai now understood why the outside had a large sign declaring the location "Williams Hardware." Though it was clearly a diner now, old roots could still be seen.

Seeing that all the tables were full of town members, very few of which she recognized as her outings weren't frequent, she made her way towards the counter and sat on one of the stools. Attempting to ignore her craving for the moment, she picked up a menu and glanced through it. It almost worked, until her eyes scanned over the "Beverages" section, and she was forcefully reminded of her reason for entering in the first place.

Glancing around, no workers were in sight, and she wondered why the place was so crowded if the service apparently sucked. On the other side of the counter she could see the full coffee pot, cups stacked beside it, and she was tempted to stand up and just pour it herself. But before she could make a move, a harassed looking man came out of the kitchen holding multiple plates of food in each hand. He was wearing a backwards baseball cap that had seen better days, and a blue flannel shirt.

"Hey, can I have a --," Lorelai began.

"Wait your turn," he muttered, taking the plates to a table, then moving to another to take their order.

Not in the mood to sit and wait any longer (as it was a near miracle she'd waited that long to start with), Lorelai followed and stood directly behind him.

"Anything to drink?" he asked the man at the table.

"Yes, actually, you wouldn't believe how badly I'm craving some coffee right now," Lorelai answered.

"Jeez, don't do that!" flannel man exclaimed, turning to look at her. "Can't you see I'm busy? What do you want, Kirk?" he again asked the man.

"Sprite. It's caffeine free, right? I've already had a Coke today, and Mother won't be happy if I have another."

"Sprite it is," he said, making a note on his pad of paper and heading back to the counter.

"And did you get my coffee order?" Lorelai asked, still following. "Because really, you don't want to see me without my coffee. It's my lifeline. I never go a day without coffee. I only had two cups this morning, and that was hours ago, and I really really really need some now."

He turned again to face her.

"Sit down, shut up, and I'll get to you when I get to you."

Lorelai frowned, sat, and looked around. Kirk, who's order the man had just taken, was reading a newspaper. Grinning again, Lorelai quickly went over to him.

"Hey, Kirk, right?"

He looked up.

"That's me."

"Can I borrow a section of your paper?"

He paused a moment before answering.

"Just don't take the funnies."

"Got it, no funnies." She quickly searched for what she was looking for, then handed the rest back to him. "Thanks!"

A brief glance told her the flannel man was across the room serving another group, and she was by his side in seconds.

"When's your birthday?"

"What?"

"When's your birthday?"

"Why do you want to know?" He went back to the kitchen to pick up food, and Lorelai followed the whole way.

"Why won't you tell me?"

"Because you have no need to know."

"Ah, but I do have a need."

"What is it?"

"Why should I tell you? You won't tell me your birthday."

"Because you don't need to know."

"Yes I do."

He rolled his eyes, clearly frustrated with the conversation.

"November fifth," he finally answered.

She turned without responding and sat back down at the counter. Opening the newspaper section, she found his corresponding horoscope and carefully ripped it out. After finding a pen in her purse, she wrote a quick message on it, then rushed back to his side.

"Read," she demanded, sticking it in his face.

He brushed her arm away, and continued to write down another customer's order.

"Oh, come on," she said, "it's not a book, it'll take you seconds to read. Read it and get it over with, or put up with me following you around until I faint from caffeine withdrawal."

Apparently he saw her point because he took the scrap of paper from her.

"You will meet an annoying woman today," he read. "Give her coffee and she will go away."

He looked back up at Lorelai, who was smiling widely.

"Isn't it amazing how accurate those horoscopes are now?" she asked. "Plus, I hear if you stick them in your wallet, they'll bring you good luck."

Giving in to defeat, he walked behind the counter and poured her a cup of coffee.

"That stuff will kill you someday," he said as he handed it over.

"And I'll die if I don't have it, didn't you hear me mention I'd faint from caffeine withdrawal, and that's just the start of what would happen…wow, that's good coffee!" She took another gulp, then sighed deeply.

"I think I've found my new coffee source."

"I thought the horoscope said you'd go away."

"Hey now, they're not perfect," she said with a shrug. She took another large drink, looked at her watch, and nearly spit it out. Muttering under her breath about time flying by, she took one more swallow, then left her still half full cup of coffee on the counter and headed for the door.

"Leaving already?" flannel man asked, nonplused, as he glanced up from refilling another customer's soda.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll be back!" Lorelai said over her shoulder, the bell over the door ringing once more as she exited.

Half an hour later, flannel man, more commonly known to the town as Luke Danes, looked up from behind the counter to see her returning, this time with a young girl beside her. Though the rush was gone and many tables were open, Lorelai sat down in the same stool she'd been in earlier, and the girl sat beside her, her feet swinging freely. Before she could even speak, Luke placed a fresh cup of coffee in front of Lorelai.

"Well I must say, you learn fast," she said, taking a sip.

"Just didn't want a repeat of your earlier visit," he said gruffly.

"When were you here before?" the young girl asked Lorelai, suddenly looking up from the menu she'd been reading.

"Just before I picked you up. Rory, this is, um," she paused, suddenly realizing she didn't know his name.

"Luke," he finished.

"Right, Luke, that makes sense, seeing as that's the name written at the top of the menus," Lorelai rambled, blushing slightly. "Oh, my name's Lorelai by the way, I don't think I ever mentioned that earlier."

"Between your begging me for coffee and asking for my birthday, no, I don't think you did." He turned to leave to pick up the plates from the couple who just left, but Lorelai stopped him.

"Hey, wait a sec," she said, reaching over and grabbing a bit of his sleeve to keep him from escaping. "Rory, what do you want?"

"Coffee please," she answered politely, carefully setting aside the menu.

"Ah, jeez, you put her up to that, didn't you?" Luke asked, not believing such a young kid would drink coffee.

Lorelai held up her hands in mock surrender.

"I didn't, I swear. She drinks it."

Luke glanced at Rory, who looked back innocently at him with her bright blue eyes.

"Come one, that stuff will stunt her growth," he said, turning back to Lorelai. "Your guys' parents aren't going to care that you're letting her drink this stuff?"

Lorelai shrugged.

"My parents would probably care, but they won't know," she said evenly. "And I'm her mom, and I say it's okay." She paused, judging his reaction to her statement, then continued in a lighter tone, "After all, I drank it all my life, and I turned out fine!"

Luke rolled his eyes, thinking it depended on your definition of "fine." He, for one, didn't think someone was fine if they were dependent on caffeine, but clearly Lorelai thought otherwise. Again giving in, he poured a second cup and sat it in front of Rory.

"Thank you," she said, reaching for the cream and sugar to add.

He grunted in response, then stepped to the side to fiddle with the broken toaster, watching Lorelai and Rory out of the corner of his eyes. He had assumed, wrongly, that they were sisters. After all, Lorelai looked no older than mid-twenties, and Rory had to be at least ten. Still, he thought to himself, it wasn't too big of a shock. His younger sister had a kid at 17, though that had been quite a surprise at the time.

Rory carefully added her sugar and cream like an old pro (and with a coffee obsessed mom like Lorelai, she probably was), then lifted it to her lips to take a drink.

"This is good!" she exclaimed, grinning at her mom. "Even better than the stuff at the Inn. Can we come here more often?"

Lorelai gave a small smile.

"Maybe not often, but occasionally for sure. We're still saving up money, remember?"

Rory gave a sigh, and Luke stayed where he was in front of the toaster. Though he rarely eavesdropped, he found himself curious about the two of them. He rationalized it to himself by saying he was just working on the toaster, and it just so happened he could hear what they were saying.

"I like living at the Inn," Rory said in a small voice. "Do we have to move?"

"Honey, trust me, a few years from now and you'll definitely be glad you have your own room. So what'd you do in school today?"

Rory immediately brightened up at the question.

"Oh! We started reading a new story in class, and I got to read out loud, and Ms. King said I did really good, and…" Rory continued talking a mile a minute, but Luke was forced to let the toaster be for now and take care of other customers that had entered.

The two Gilmore girls stayed a while longer, each taking one refill on their coffee. Luke had just given Kirk his sandwich he'd ordered (cut into triangles, as requested), and was returning to the counter when Lorelai pulled out her wallet.

"So, how much do we owe you?"

Luke shook his head, "Nothing. First time customers on the house." Truthfully he'd never let new customers get away without paying before, but if they really were living at the Inn, he thought they needed the money more than he did.

"Darn, we should've ordered actual food then," Lorelai said in mock-disappointment. She turned to Rory and said in a loud whisper, "Hey, let's go dye our hair blond, and come back with different names."

Rory rolled her eyes, used to her mother's antics. "But Sookie's cooking at the Inn tonight," she countered.

Lorelai considered that for a moment, "Good point. Thanks for the coffee Luke," she said, turning back to him and taking one last drink. "We'll definitely be back."

Mother and daughter left, and Luke picked up their cups and wiped the counter. He picked up a piece of paper by the cash register and recognized it as the horoscope that Lorelai had forced him to read earlier. Giving a short laugh, he realized that though it promised the "annoying woman" would go away, it said nothing about her not returning. Remembering what she'd said about it being lucky, he pulled out his wallet, feeling silly as he stuck it in. Everyone could use a bit of luck, right?


End file.
